Did this play-off final miss kickstart the decline of Scott Hogan’s Aston Villa career?

Aston Villa striker Scott Hogan has endured a torrid start to the season, starved of playing time and form at Villa Park.

The Irish striker’s struggles can possibly be traced back to the 26th of May, when Hogan missed a gilt-edged chance that would have equalised the play-off final against Fulham.

The forward had entered the fray as a late substitute at Wembley with Villa enjoying a man advantage and trailing 1-0. As the Villans threw everything at the Whites backline, a glorious deep ball found Hogan unmarked at the far post, but the striker could not even steer his header on target and saw a lovely chance go to waste.

(Photo credit IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)

If Hogan had nodded home in stoppage time to send the match to extra time, he would have been lauded as an Aston Villa hero, surely changing the direction of his career in the Midlands.

Yet this campaign, Hogan has registered a solitary 48 minutes in the Championship, scoring zero goals in his three substitute appearances.

At the outset of the campaign, former manager Steve Bruce intervened to keep Hogan at the club, but the striker did not play at all until 23 October, weeks after Bruce had been sacked.

It appears increasingly likely that Scott Hogan will depart Villa Park in January to seek a new environment, yet his time at Aston Villa could have been completely different if he had only taken his golden play-off final chance.